


One Day at a Time

by orphan_account



Series: Matter of Time [2]
Category: Criminal Minds, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alliances, Coping, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Kidnapping, M/M, Mutants, Mutation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-17 21:41:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5886340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking individual looks at how everyone is coping with Spencer's disappearance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. FBI Headquarter's - Virginia

Aaron stared angrily at the file report in his hand. The single pack of pages in the folder holding his team’s desperation, fears, and worst of all, failures rested in his hands as he regretted so much on that faithful day. They should not have allowed Spencer into the apartment complex alone, they should not have waited so long to move in, and they should not have allowed Diane Turner to flee with their resident genius.

What they should have done is figured out that they were dealing with a mutant.

Looking back, the signs could easily have been interpreted to the presence of mutations. The stalker had been able to reroute the signals from her devices when she made calls or from camera feeds to her private location with no prior professional computing education. How could they have not asked themselves how Diane had been not only able to render Robert unconscious, but also move him to a secondary location in broad daylight? And the flickering and the flashing in her eyes…. Those haunted the unit chief every time he closed his eyes.

Aaron Hotchner felt particularly to blame for losing their resident genius. It hadn’t been JJ or Blake who allowed Reid to work the case when he knew the victim personally and especially when he was even considered a potential target. It hadn’t been Garcia who allowed him to make the offer, trading himself for Maeve. It hadn’t even been Morgan or Rossi who allowed Spencer to enter the building unarmed and vulnerable. It was all on him. Every negligent decision made had been okayed by one person, Quantico’s BAU unit chief.

Call him selfish, but that’s not even what he considered the worse part. Aaron had taken the responsibility of writing up the file report alone so that his team wouldn’t have to torture themselves once again as they wrote up every one of their mistakes leading up to the loss of their youngest member. None of them argued Hotch’s decision, none of them wanted to relive the situation any more than they had to. The unit chief remembered the circumstances in such detail that would rival Spencer’s eidetic memory itself.

Every time he closed his eyes, the consequences of how they handled the case attacked him. Spencer’s fear and pain out in the open, the ashen look to his face as tears made their way down his cheeks and the trembling of his hands that they hadn’t seen since he was using. The toned but feminine arm snaked around his throat and the manicured hand holding the gun firmly to the side of the agent’s head. And those cursed eyes, their flickering and flashing taunted him as he saw it in everything. When his phone lit up, in the flickering of a light and even when Jack turned on the television. Then there was the moment Diane recomposed herself.

He somehow knew they had lost the battle the second she had stopped looking so panicked.

The calm that overtook her displayed a confidence, a confidence that she knew that she would win. No one even had time to flinch when she pulled the trigger. They had all moved so slowly after that, as if their limbs had been filled with lead. If Spencer had been here, he would be rambling on statistics about reaction times, but he wasn’t. Instead, Hotch had to deal with the life leaving Maeve’s eyes before she even hit the ground, and the blue light that spread from Diane before she and Spencer vanished into thin air.

The entire team desperately wished that the anguish and despair in their genius’ face hadn’t been the last emotions they had seen of him. But it had been. In ways, they were all envious of Garcia who sat in her office and hadn’t seen Spencer’s raw emotions before disappearing. The last she had seen had been worry, but at least it wasn’t open grief. She too dealt with some guilt as they all did. Everyone felt some degree of culpability, rational or not.

For Hotch, writing the report had been torturous but manageable. However, each word he wrote imprinted itself into his memory, never to be forgotten. Despite that, the entire team each had their own burdensome tasks once the crime scene had been taped off. It was unanimous that the unit chief had enough between the paperwork and the bearing the brunt of the guilt. 

Morgan decided to be the one to inform Garcia of the unfortunate outcome. To be fair, she handled it better than expected, but she insisted tearfully that Prentiss be kept up to date with their dilemma. Rossi took it upon himself to explain the situation to Strauss so that Aaron would not have to go over things once again when he handed her his report. Blake put on a brave face and dealt with the media, warding them away from the rest of her emotionally drained team.

Hotch knew that JJ felt the weight of Spencer’s absence particularly bad. It took all her effort to not cave in. She had to go home and tell both her husband and her son about Spencer’s disappearance. Aaron could hardly bare to imagine JJ trying desperately to hold back tears as she explained to Henry that his godfather wouldn’t be coming over for Sunday brunches for a while, that there wouldn’t be the lanky genius to buy him more chemistry kits or even perform magic tricks.

The elephant in the room had to be telling Spencer’s boyfriend. Telling Remy would be difficult, it was something that no one wanted to do but it had to be done. None of them wanted to deal with the inevitable rage that would be directed their way because they hadn’t protected him. They didn’t want to hear him blame them for his disappearance, they already knew that they were at fault and they didn’t need an X-Men to tell them. But mostly, they didn’t want to, nor did they know how, to deal with the unavoidable grief.

In the end, they did it as a family. Upon entering bullpen, agents from other units and divisions made haste to get out of the way. The team sat closer than usual in the conference room while they waited for Remy to answer the video call request. Garcia reached for JJ’s and Morgan’s hands as her lower lipped wobbled. By the time Gambit answered, all their hands were intertwined with one another’s. 

Aaron knew that the call wouldn’t initially worry the superhero. Reid had once confided in his unit chief that his boyfriend had a comforting effect on him and would seek him out after particularly gruesome cases. Hotch’s heart sank when he realized that Remy would answer this call thinking that it was Spencer seeking his solace only to discover his worse fear realized. 

Gambit’s usual shit eating grin appeared on the main conference room monitor, blurred slightly before coming into focus. The mischievous smile dropped slowly from his face upon realization that only six profilers sat on the monitor, his beau being the missing agent. His face tightened in worry when he took in their grim expressions. Very slowly, Remy Lebeau slid his sunglasses off of his face. His red on black eyes flitted between their pained faces and the tight grips they had on each other’s hands.

“Please don’t say what I t’ink y’ about to tell Remy.” Even the stab wounds Hotchner had suffered at the hands of Foyet hadn’t hurt mentally as much as hearing the pain and the pleading in this man’s voice. “Please don’t do this to po’ Remy. Où est mon amoureux?” The crack in his voice at the end of the question made it all more difficult to inform the hero of his boyfriend’s disappearance. 

Aaron didn’t remember everything after that and what he did recall wasn’t the most cheerful of occurrences. Bits and pieces floated around his mind in no particular order. The Wolverine holding back a very angry hero in a trench coat, tears running down his own face, Garcia’s loud emotional sobbing, tears escaping Gambit’s face, reassurance that Spencer had been alive before disappearing, and a series of French swears that only JJ could be familiar with. The unit chief wished that the past three days hadn’t happened entirely at this point.

But they had.

So here he sat, with a thick wad of pages in his hand and tears once again running down his face. He sighed and put the folder down before reaching for the box of tissues that Penelope had thoughtfully placed on each of their desks. After assuring that he still appeared presentable, he pushed his chair back and grabbed the cursed folder once more before leaving the confines of his office. 

His team looked as lost as he felt. Morgan wasn’t even in his own office, nor was Garcia as they crowded around JJ’s desk. Blake herself even sat on the desk itself. Not a word was spoken, but Derek was gripping Penelope’s hand tightly in his own as if they hadn’t let got since the team had called Remy two days ago. Rossi wasn’t with them, however he observed them sadly from just outside his office door. No work was being done, no files were being written but it was excusable considering the circumstances. David looked up when he heard Aaron’s office door shut.

“Thought you could use a hand.” He explained as he followed the unit chief down the hall. Appreciation swelled up inside of Aaron as they continued towards Erin’s office to drop of the dreadful file. Relief was also present, relief that the unit hadn’t turned against each other and placed the blame on their team members. That was the last thing Hotch believes he could have dealt with, it would have been too much. Dread returned though the second he was outside of his intended destination.

“Come in.” Strauss called from behind the door, no knock needed. Rossi pushed open the entry for the both of them. Aaron felt like a small child being coaxed from room to room, being guided by someone else. He almost couldn’t stand the boss’ pitiful look. “Agent Rossi has already informed me of the events.” She explained as he placed the folder on her desk. “I’ve arranged for you and your team to have time off.”

To Erin’s surprise, Hotchner simply turned and left as quietly as he had arrived. Aaron heard Rossi vaguely coming up with excuses as he exited the office. He simply just couldn’t deal with someone pretending to understand what he and his team were going through. He knew that her sympathy was intended, but Strauss by no means understood the pain and devastation that they had suffered at the hands of Diane Turner.

Four sets of eyes were on him as he returned in sight of the bullpen. The room felt so bare. Blake held an incomplete crossword puzzle from this morning’s paper that was clear of all of Reid’s quick thinking. Never had Spencer’s desk looked or felt so empty with its lack of coffee cups and the absence of Reid’s brown satchel. Then of course, there was the absence of boy genius himself and not for the first time in the past few days, Aaron asked himself if Spencer was okay wherever he was. Rossi came from Erin’s office, stopping beside the unit chief and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Strauss,” Aaron began, his voice cracking. He paused to clear it before starting from the beginning. “Strauss has arranged for the team to take time off.” None of them looked very pleased, neither was the unit chief himself. He had been hoping that they’d be given permission to perhaps look for their missing member, if even only for a day. “I know that this is difficult, but we have to deal with what we have.” He was channelling all his strength into keeping the strong, stoic look he was known for. He had to keep it together for his team. “One day at a time.”

“Sir,” Aaron was surprised that it was Penelope who spoke up first. “May I refuse to take those days off? I mean, that is a very, very kind and extremely generous offer.” She rambled on in her typical style. He was glad that hadn’t changed after Spencer’s disappearance. “But we’d much rather be looking for Reid.” The rest of the team appeared to agree. Hell, even Aaron agreed but he knew a dismissal from work when he heard one. 

“Garcia,” Hotch sounded regretful, even to himself. “What Strauss told me is practically an ord- What is this?” Penelope had moved from where she stood at the first sound of protest to her request. She made her way over to her boss with a collection of pages in hand as well as her laptop. She offered the wad of pages which he took slowly, curiosity proving to get the better of him. She opened her mouth as if to explain, but then decided against it.

“This might be better to be done in the conference room.” Garcia opted to tell him instead. “You might not want to have Strauss or anyone overhear us is we aren’t supposed to be in the office for the next while.” There was almost no place to do anything aside to follow her as she made her way to their usual rendezvous room. The rest of the team filed in after them, their intrigue growing as did the unit chief’s. “Please don’t be mad for holding this back for the past two days.” She begged quickly before she took to setting up the monitor while Morgan stood to close the room’s blinds.

“Garcia, would you please just-“ Aaron cut himself off as a long list of names started flying across the monitor at lightning speed. Morgan decided to join Penelope in front of the room as oppose to returning back to his seat once he was assured that no one outside of the room could spy in on them. Their expressions were somewhat proud, obviously this had been something that they had worked on together. Aaron was still shocked, caught off guard by this, whatever this was. Quick glances at JJ, Rossi, and Blake told him that he wasn’t the only one kept out of the loop.

“This is our research so far.” Garcia explained. “You’d be surprised at how many mutants there are in North America.” Hotch looked to the file of pages he was still holding, a swift flick through them proved them to be a series of names, some highlighted and others underlined. “Do not fret, I didn’t hack anywhere to get this very important information. I called in some help from a friend who works in an agency with the largest list of mutants in any database.”

“She means Emily at Interpol.” Morgan clarified, but Hotch still felt somewhat confused. He wasn’t use to people springing information like this upon when he felt so lost. “She sent the list yesterday but assured us that not all names are on it. Some always manage to avoid the system.”

“I’m sorry.” JJ was the one to interrupt this time, she looked as perplexed as Hotch felt but with a hint of anger. “What is this supposed to do? We already know who took Spence, how can looking at a list of others help us?”

“I know JJ.” Garcia agreed. “But just hear us out.” She clicked the remote and a file was pulled up. “Diane Turner was indeed in the Interpol database, she was logged in sometime after her parents’ deaths when she presented signs of coming into her power. This is where it gets interesting, her primary mutation isn’t teleportation.” Aaron sat up a little straighter at this tidbit of information. “In fact, it isn’t even a secondary mutation. She couldn’t teleport even if she wanted to because it isn’t in her genes.”

“But she’s still a mutant.” Rossi said it like a question, but it was more of a statement than anything.

“Yes,” Garcia nodded. “Her mutation is listed as telepathy. Which means that-“

“There’s one or more than one person working with Diane on the outside.” Blake interrupted solemnly. The team took in this fact silently, this was a real breakthrough in the situation even if it didn’t have the most positive of appearances to it.

“Considering what happened, we decided that we should look into people who had electrical manipulation because of the way the signal was being rerouted. Investigation into people with the teleportation mutation is pretty self-explanatory.” Morgan elaborated. “The names highlighted are electricity mutations and those underlined are teleporters.” Garcia clicked to the next slide.

“I couldn’t eliminate mutants whose powers were not listed.” She said as names dropped from the list she had onscreen. “But we cut the names down to a significantly smaller number. I sent that list over to the X-Men’s very own researcher, Doctor Henry McCoy last night. He will eliminate as many more names as he can before he sends us back the shortened list.”

“No offence Garcia, but you make this sound like we still can’t do anything.” JJ grumbled angrily. “Even if we do narrow the list down, they’ve probably gone into hiding and how are we supposed to find people who don’t want to be found? Sure the X-Men could try, but we sure as hell can’t.”

“JJ’s right,” Hotch agreed with a sigh, he felt like all this was doing was getting their hopes up before dropping them lower than before. “There’s hardly any point to this if we still can’t locate him.”

“That’s where you’re wrong boss man.” The monitor changed from the shortened list of names to a screenshot of a teenager’s twitter account with a picture of a familiar blue flash. “Two days ago, an explosion of light, not unlike the one that Morgan described to me, was spotted by this Michigan teenager outside of his apartment complex.”

“How can we even be sure that this had anything to do with Spencer?” Rossi questioned doubtfully. Aaron was glad that he wasn’t the only one questioning this. 

“We can’t be sure.” Derek reluctantly agreed. “But I’m willing to try anything if it means that we have a shot at finding Reid.” Hotch noticed Blake nodding, as if agreeing. “No similar flashes have occurred anywhere in the country so it just might be them, and they might still be there if it is them. From Virginia to Detroit is a big leap according to Garcia’s research, even for an experienced teleporter. They’ll need a few days to recharge in the very least.”

“Strauss has given us time off.” Aaron reminded everyone in the conference room once again. “It was more of an order than a recommendation, which leaves none of us with any access to anything. That includes the jet.”

“Covered that too boss man.” Garcia jumped in again. “A specific telepath, a good one that is, sent me an email this morning.” The monitor changed to a copy of an email addressed to Penelope and the rest of the profilers. “We’ve received a very official, very important invite from one Professor Charles Xavier to stay at the X-Men mansion while we help them and they help us look for Spencer.”

The team was shocked, Aaron was pretty sure he heard JJ’s jaw drop. Never before had the X-Men opened an invitation out to the federal government, to the FBI of all people. This would be considered a ground breaking advancement if the team were to accept, both sides were typically so mistrusting of one another.

“But,” Derek spoke up, interrupting everyone’s train of thought. “They’ve included to mention that this must be done on our own time and that we aren’t to record anything non case related at the mansion.” Nonetheless, the X-Men were reaching out to federal agents. “They’ve offered to send their own personal jet to pick us up if needed.”

“I don’t see how we can turn them down.” Rossi said. “We’ve received an official, formal invitation to help them, for them to help us, get Spencer back.” He looked around, waiting to see if anyone would challenge him. “I’m in, there’s nothing here to hold me back from going. Any objections?”

The question hung in the open for a few minutes while everyone considered the offer and what it would mean and the risks they’d be open to.

“I’ll talk to Will.” JJ piped up. “He’ll be very understanding if I have to leave the house for a bit. Especially if it means the possibility of finding Spence.” Aaron understood that she would be being away from Henry for an undetermined amount of time, something that JJ usually wasn’t so keen on.

“There’s no question for me, I’m obviously going.” Morgan added without hesitation. The unit chief knew that there was in interesting friendship between him and Reid. He had been the first to befriend Spencer when he arrived at the bureau and Derek would be willing to go great lengths to get his best friend back. 

“Do I even need to say anything?” Penelope asked as she started to stow her laptop away once again. Aaron saw the determination in her eyes, she was willing to do anything to return boy genius back home safely.

“I think not.” Blake chipped in. The hope in her eyes that had previously been lost, had been rekindled. Aaron was still doubtful, what if even their hopes were dashed? What if even the strongest, most powerful team of superheroes in their continent couldn’t find Spencer? There were so many ‘what if’s and variables to what could happen. But this wasn’t just any victim they were looking for, this was Spencer.

The genius who had helped him through his time of need. Who was always aware of how everyone felt and helped them the best he could. Spencer who had willingly put himself in danger to try and save a woman who he had barely spoken to. Making an effort to save him was the very least they could do. They could do this, they had so many resources available to help them. Between the BAU and the X-Men, Aaron really started to believe that they could do this.

“I’ll call Jessica to take care of Jack.” Hotch spoke up after another moment of silence. The team cheered, the feeling of helplessness submerged beneath the revival of their ambition. “I really believe that with their help, we stand a chance at getting Reid back. It might be a slow process but I believe in us.”

“For Spencer.” Rossi nodded.

“For Remy.” JJ added.

“For us.” Penelope chipped in.

“We’ll get him back for everyone.” Aaron confirmed. “There’ll be lots of hard work ahead of us, but we’ll get there. One day at a time.”


	2. X-Men Mansion - New York

When Remy awoke, for one brilliant moment, he didn’t remember that Spencer had been taken from him. In fact, he reached across his bed, seeking the warmth that should be have joined him this morning as they started the week that they were supposed to be taking off together. Only, he found nothing. In a way, that made the realization worse. 

Dread sunk like a stone through Remy. It started in his head, darkening his previously happy thoughts, and sank through his body, giving him an achy longing in his chest and an indescribable weakness in his legs. The Cajun couldn’t find any reason or explanation to get out of his bed. Motivation to leave his bedroom, or to do anything for the matter, was long gone. Almost as if it had disappeared with his amoureux.

Slowly and gently, he pushed himself up into a sitting position against the headboard of his bed, even taking the time to place a pillow behind him. He noticed that the achy feeling from before wasn’t only limited to his chest. It felt like it was part of him, every piece of his living being yearned for his lover. Tears once again made their way to red on black eyes and the mutant brought the palms of his hands up to his face yet again to rub at his eyes. 

He remembered the anger that clawed at him yesterday, fighting him from the inside out. It had all been brought on by one group of people who were misfortunate enough to deliver him the unfortunate news. He desperately did not want to believe them, he begged for them to not tell him what he thought they were going to say. First came the tears, then the rage. The Cajun came to regret lashing out at the FBI’s group of behavioral analysists, Spencer would have been so ashamed of him. They too were feeling to some degree the same pain that coursed through his very being.

The anger had eventually dissipated, regret had replaced it. Remy had been left feeling old emotions that he hadn’t felt in many years. Incompetence, uselessness, and a vast emptiness were among them. The mutant desperately wanted to push the blame on others, so he did. He placed it on Spencer’s boss, the Hotchner man who had allowed his boyfriend to work the case, essentially placing him in harm’s way. And the teammates who had failed to rescue, to save his beau in the face of a dangerous woman. He placed the fault on Penny G who sat safely at her desk in the comfort of her office chair, all while Spencer risked himself out in the field. 

Despite trying to rid himself of the guilt, some of the blame still fell squarely on his own shoulders. Remy regretted immensely the fact that he hadn’t pushed Spencer harder into letting him assist him with the situation. He was at fault for not ignoring his amoureux’s reassurances that he would be able to solve this case without the mutant’s aid. His cher had sounded shaky, but still so confident, and Remy just about hated himself for trusting him at that very moment. And as much as he hated to agree with the fact, Spencer had made his own share of bad decisions yesterday.

He should have known better, he was aware that the case would impair his judgement and decision making abilities on the case and yet, he still worked. It would’ve been completely understandable for him to sit the case out. But to actually give himself up to that devilish woman? Merde, Remy thought that his Spencer was supposed to be smart! He should never have gotten involved with the Maeve woman once he knew that she came in an all-inclusive package with a crazy stalker. And in turn, she should never have involved his beau.

But in the end, it all came down to be listed as a clusterfuck in Remy’s books. It was a series of the worsts decisions ever made by some of the most intelligent people he knew. The heavy emptiness left in Spencer’s absence was the dear price payed for such ignorant and dimwitted choices made on that life changing day.  
Remy lowered his palms from his eyes and took a deep, shuddery breath. For some reason, he took to thinking of his room. He realized for the first time just how big his bed really was. He knew that he, himself, would have to stretch himself thin just to reach both sides of his bed. It felt even bigger knowing of Spencer’s absence and with a pang, he wondered if his beau was thinking about Remy right now as much as Remy was thinking about him. 

The mutant pushed off against the headboard and laid back down on his back wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. At least he could hold Spencer in his dreams. But nothing came to him, not even a hint of coming close to escaping reality. Staring at the ceiling proved to be the only thing the Cajun could do. But soon a knock came to his door and Remy didn’t want to interact with anyone unless they were Spencer. His solution was to lift the covers and pull them over his head in hopes of blocking out the world.

Of course that wouldn’t work.

Remy could hear his creaky door swing open and muffled, but heavy, footsteps entering before the solid thudding of the door shutting behind the visitor. Judging by the weight of the steps and how they lacked the usual tentativeness of an acquaintance, the mutant assumed it to be Logan who had entered the room. He was probably the only one willing to approach him after Remy threw his little emotional tantrum after the FBI agents informed him of his amoureux’s abduction. 

Looking back, the Cajun knew that it must’ve been quite the scene. His usually laidback and charming attitude was what the others were use to, his outburst of tears and anger must have been so out of the ordinary for the other’s to witness. He didn’t care what the house thought though. He didn’t care that they had to witness Logan restrain him and drag him through the halls and down to the danger room. Remy vaguely remembers directing all his emotions into his powers as he destroyed bot after bot. He could also remember the moment exhaustion and acceptance had sunk in.

Spencer was gone and he hadn’t lifted a single finger to help.

The bed dipped and Remy could feel Logan’s familiar presence in the room. Not a single word was spoken between the two mutants. It wasn’t an unwanted or heavy silence but more so of a comfortable one where neither of the two felt the need to speak. Remy knew that the feral was aware of how he felt, Logan always was, and he understood that words weren’t needed at the moment. They stayed like that for an amount of time that the Cajun couldn’t keep track of, until the weight slowly lifted itself from the bed.

Remy listened, following the sound of the footsteps as they made their way around the bed and across the room towards his windows. The next thing he heard was the sound of the blinds being lifted before the blanket shield that Remy had built around himself was being gently pulled away. He stared numbly at Logan as he wanted no more than for a hole to appear beneath him and swallow him whole.

“Hey pup,” Logan sat down once again, this time pulling himself closer to his friend who looked so small and so vulnerable in his large bed. “How are you feeling?” Remy hardly reacted, how was he supposed to feel? His eyes drifted to the window that the feral had opened to let in a draft and was slightly shocked to see that the sky outside was dark. Had he slept through the day? His friend answered that for him.

“It’s been a day Rem.” Logan sighed and slid once again closer to his friend. “You can’t waste your time away in bed like this, you know that this isn’t what Spencer would want.” A flare of anger ran through the Cajun at the mention of his cher. It disappeared quickly though when he reminded himself that he wasn’t the only one who had lost a friend. Spencer had gotten on very well with the Wolverine after their initial introduction and Logan might still be reeling from the loss of a friend. “Spence would want us to carry on like usual, to find him.”

“How?” Logan’s heart broke at the sound of Remy’s voice. So much pain and grief had escaped through the single worded question. Tears once again returned to his eyes and the Cajun rubbed his palms into his eyes furiously as his sadness assaulted him once again. 

The feral closed the distance between him and his friend. He lifted Remy gently as he seated himself against the bed’s headboard, the put him back down so that he was resting on Logan. He pulled Rems up a little more so that he rested comfortably against his chest. Logan ran his fingers through the man’s hair as he had seen Spencer do before to comfort the man in the years of their relationship.

“To start, we investigate the situation.” Logan reminded his friend of the first step while he pulled gently at a knot in Remy’s hair. “We’ve sent one of our mutants on the inside to take a look at the crime scene, maybe we’ll pull up some clues as to what happened or how the woman disappeared with Spence.” The Cajun flinched at the reminder of the villain who had taken his amoureux.

“Then we investigate any leads that we pull up.” The feral stated quietly, listing the second step of the X-Men’s regular procedure as he untangled the hair. “Anything that comes up, we’ll follow all until we either find Spencer or we’re forced to keep looking.” Remy didn’t want to think of the crime scene anymore. The woman had teleported out of there, they knew damn well that there was no way to trace someone who had teleported. How could they follow an untraceable mutation?

The gentle knocking at the door interrupted the two. The door opened minimally before Hank looked in. His expression softened at the sight of the two sitting together, Logan with his hands running in a comforting manner through Remy’s lightly greasy hair. “May I?” He asked politely, question directed at the two. Logan sensed that he would come in anyways, regardless of the answer. He was a doctor after all and he probably wanted to check on Remy’s state.

“Sure.” The feral answered for the two of them, despite the knowledge that Remy more than likely wanted to see no one at the moment. They watched as the doctor slowly pushed the door open even more, the creaking echoing throughout the quiet room. He then made his way over to the two with a tray grasped carefully in both hands.

“I brought some food for you, Remy.” Hank said, stating more or less the obvious as he set the tray down beside the two in the bed. The platter held a soup that Remy recognized to be his own chicken noodle soup concoction, they must have thawed the extra they kept in the freezer. There was also a glass of ginger ale, a pack of soda crackers and a few slices of oranges beside a few green vegetables. The Cajun’s stomach rumbled at the sight of food, he couldn’t remember the last time he ate. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to eat though, Remy took to looking at his lap instead.

“Is that all doc?” Logan asked the doctor. “I don’t think Rems wants to be around too many of us for the time being.” Hank’s lips tightened, he understood what the feral was implying but didn’t see it as being an option at the time. This wasn’t personal, no, not in the slightest. It was just so unusual for Remy Lebeau to want to be around so few people.   
He typically enjoyed the company of crowds and others. This only proved to show how much the FBI agent’s disappearance was affecting him.

“I actually come with some news.” Remy looked up at those words, his red on black eyes intrigued. “Whether it is good or bad, that is yet to be known.” Fear briefly flashed between both Logan and the Cajun. The tremor that ran through the two had them both thinking and running different possibilities of varying scenarios and outcomes through their minds. Hank could practically see their brains working as they were hoping for the best, but preparing for the worse.

“Late last night, I received an email from one Penelope Garcia.” He could see the recognition in their faces, both Remy and Logan had met her on separate occasions. She was one of those people who was hard to forget. “She and an agent Morgan emailed me a rather long list of names, the identity of the woman who took Spencer,” The Cajun now had all his attention focused on Hank now. “And some ideas to fill in some of the blanks.”

“Could y’ stop draggin’ it out s’il vous plaît?” Remy finally spoke up for the first time in hours, more than a hint of anger seeping into his question which sounded more like an order. Logan nodded in agreement, they both understood that the doctor had important information to share.

“Of course,” Hank agreed. “The entire situation needs to be understood though. Please understand that I am doing my best, I passed on the list to the professor as well.” The doctor quickly thought as to how he could best explain the information that he knew and understood. “Diane Turner was the abductor and was not listed in our system as you both know. However, the FBI agents called in some help from a source that did have her in their database. Spencer’s kidnapper is a telepath, a strong one too considering the lights in her eyes.”

“Merci doc,” Remy seethed out. “But how’s that supposed to help?” 

“That doesn’t include teleportation.” Logan remarked as he ran his hands once more through his best friend’s hair in attempt to soothe some of the anger he was without a doubt experiencing. 

“Y’re right…” The Cajun stiffened with the realization. “That means more than un abductor.” He concluded, horror present in his widening eyes.

“This is where the theory jumps in.” The doctor explained. Agents Garcia and Morgan believe there to be more than one mutant involved in the kidnapping. A mutant with the ability to teleport in the very least, and we have to consider the possibility of a mutant with the ability to manipulate electricity. I was told that they couldn’t track her because her signal was being rerouted.”

“The connards!” Remy jumped, his fury rekindled once more. Logan reached around him, restraining him as he had done not twenty four hours ago. “Wolvie, let go of me!” He fought, twisting and flailing but Logan did well in holding the distressed man down.

“If you don’t calm down, I doubt the doc will share anything else with us.” The feral calmly told Remy despite his own inner panic at the implications of more than one mutant working in the disappearance of his friend. The Cajun slowly settled, but his eyes were still alit with rage.

“This is where the list of names comes in. It’s a rather extensive list of mutants whose powers are either teleportation or electricity related.” Hank elaborated once Remy had calmed enough, Logan still had his arms ready to hold him back if ever needed. “They were also intelligent enough to include names of mutants whose powers are unknown. I’ll be able to go down that list and eliminate those who we know aren’t capable or have the motive to take a federal agent.”

“That’s all we’ll get?” Remy questioned Hank, not sounding pleased with the results. “A shorter list of names? Where in dis can Remy help?” The Cajun couldn’t seem to process too much. Everything made sense to some degree, but it all muddled together with the rest of the information that he was being told.

“This is where my own hypothesis jumps in.” The doctor admitted somewhat reluctantly. “I believe that the stalker for Maeve was simply a cover, I believe that they were really after Spencer all along.” The silence in the room was deafening. Neither of the mutants made any move to argue, they simply sat and allowed for the theory to sink in. Hank took a deep breath before continuing. “Remy, your relationship with Spencer hasn’t exactly been on the down low in recent months. It is possible that this is a form of revenge or a way to get you to cooperate with some demands that may come in.”

“So po’ Spencer may be gone b’cause of Remy?” The Cajun’s voice cracked and the doctor cringed, wondering whether he really should have told Gambit about his theory.  
“It’s possible.” Hank nodded solemnly. 

“But it’s also possible that he wasn’t taken because of you, Gumbo.” Logan reminded with a quick glare at the doctor before returning his attention to his best friend. This was a theory that really didn’t need to be shared with Remy, especially when he was so vulnerable and emotional. “Nothing’s set in stone yet, it could still be a random abduction.”  
“Mais it’s possible.” Tears escaped the Cajun’s eyes, he made no move to stop them nor wipe them away which was typical of him. It was such an unusual sight to see Remy cry so openly, he was a man who was afraid to show what he believed to be weakness. 

“That just means that you need to fight all the more harder for him.” The feral elected to tell the mutant instead of once again rebutting the theory or comforting him. He gently lifted Remy off of his chest and moved around so that he now sat in front of the red on black eyes. “We can work at this, one day at a time. We might not be able to find him now, but we’ll eventually find him and we can’t do this without you.”

Hank’s admiration for Remy Lebeau was one that was well deserved and only grew with each amazement the mutant added to his already impressive list. The doctor watched the Cajun tense for a few seconds with his head ducked to his chest and after a few moments, he looked up with renewed determination. The man had transformed himself from a grief stricken individual to a strong-willed hero who was hell bent on finding what was wrongfully taken from him. It was as if Logan had spoken magic, not just words of encouragement.

“Please ask Charles to invite Spencer’s team.” Remy requested, even his voice had found a steely determination. “Dey’ll want to help us and dey will do that best içi.” The doctor took the cue to leave and quickly rushed out of the room, making sure to close the door behind as he left. His next task was to find the professor and see if he'd allow federal agents into the mansion.

“That’s smart Gumbo.” Logan remarked. “Calling in his team, they’re probably out of their minds right now. But it’s never been done before.” That hadn’t gone entirely unnoticed. Law enforcement and mutants didn’t typically seem to mix together very well. Neither sides were very trusting of the other. “Us working with the feds, that’s not going to sit well with everyone.”

“Non,” Remy agreed with a hum. “But dey’ll have to for Penny.” Logan felt relief wash over him upon feeling the rekindled fire to fight in his friend. With a devious twinkle in his eyes, the Cajun allowed a small smile to pull at his lips. “Now let’s figure out how to find my beau.”


End file.
